The Harbor of La Rochelle

Artist: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875)

1851

European Art

On view, 2nd floor, European Art

This view of the French harbor of La Rochelle, on the Bay of Biscay, as seen from the second-story window of a house on the Quai Vallin, is composed with the classic order and serenity that Corot drew from his study of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Though painted in the summer of 1851 when Corot was already producing the feathery gray landscapes that brought him his greatest popularity, this canvas harks back to his earlier style in its arrangement of architectural masses illuminated and solidly modeled by sunlight.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

unframed: 19 7/8 × 28 1/4 in. (50.5 × 71.8 cm)

Credit Line

Bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903

Accession Number

1961.18.14

Culture

French

Period

19th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Alfred Robaut Collection, Paris (purchased from the artist at the Arras exhibition, 1868); Constant Dutilleux, Paris; Dutilleux sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 26 March 1874, no. 23 (withdrawn at 10,000); Durand-Ruel Dealers, New York; Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild; Baron Leonine Henri de Rothschild; Wildenstein & Co., New York; Stephen C. Clark Collection, New York.
Bibliography
  • David Liot, Michael Pantazzi, and Vincent Pomarède, De Corot à l'art moderne: souvenirs et variations, exh. cat. (Paris: Hazan, 2009), 16, fig. 1
  • Vincent Pomarède, Corot e l'arte moderna: souvenirs et impressions, exh. cat. (Venezia, Italy: Marsilio, 2009), 2–5, fig. 1
  • Kobe Shiritsu Hakubutsukan, Corot: souvenirs et variations, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijutsukan, 2008), 14–15, fig. 1
  • Michael Conforti et al., The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings, exh. cat. (Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2006), 135–37, 184, 316, 322, no. 65, fig. 112, 114
  • Vincent Pomarède, Corot (Paris: Flammarion, 1996), 96, ill.
  • Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, National Gallery of Canada, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, Corot (Paris: Connaissance des Arts, 1996), 50–1, fig. 46
  • Gary Tinterow et al., Corot, exh. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), 219–20, no. 96, fig. 70
  • Michael Pantazzi et al., Corot: 1796-1875, exh. cat. (Paris: Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 1996), 296
  • Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau, Corot: la lumière des villes (Paris: Herscher, 1996), 54–5, ill.
  • Iain Gale, Corot (London: Studio Editions Ltd, 1994), 92–3, ill.
  • Norma Broude, Impressionism: a feminist reading: the gendering of art, science, and nature in the nineteenth century (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1991), fig. Pl. 19
  • Michael Clark, Corot and the Art of Landscape, 1 (New York: Cross River Press, 1991), 91–94, fig. 94
  • Anna Maria Arias de Cossia, La pintura del siglo XIX en Francia, 1 (Barcelona, Spain: Vicens-Vives, 1989)
  • Jean Selz, La vie et l'œuvre de Camille Corot (Paris: ACR Edition, 1988), 164–66, 170–71, ill.
  • Samson Lane Faison Jr., The Art Museums of New England (Boston: David R. Godine, 1982)
  • Helen Gardner, Horst De la Croix, and Richard G Tansey, Gardner's Art through the ages, 7 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), 755–56
  • Jean Leymarie, Corot (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1979), 91–92
  • "Life of Corot," American Artists (1976)
  • Kermit Swiler Champa, Studies in Early Impressionism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973), 15, fig. 20
  • Madeleine Hours, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1972), 84
  • Andrew Carnduff Ritchie and Katherine Neilson, Selected Paintings and Sculpture from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), no. 73, ill.
  • The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800–1900, exh. cat. (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1969), no. 17, ill.
  • Francoise Forster-Hahn, French and School of Paris Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1968), 4–5
  • Ary Bob de Vries, In het licht van Vermeer, exh. cat. (Den Haag: Mauritshuis, 1966), no. 40, ill.
  • Camille Mauclair, Corot, peintre-poète de la France (Paris: A. Michel, 1962), 42, 44
  • "Yale Exhibits Clark Bequest," Art Journal XXV (Winter 1961–1962), 118
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Corot 1796-1875: an exhibition of his paintings and graphic works, the Art Institute of Chicago, October 6 through November 13, 1960, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1960), 22, no. 76
  • André Coquis, Corot et la critique contemporaine (Paris: Dervy, 1959), 60–61
  • François Frosca, Corot, sa vie et son œuvre (Brussels: Elsevier, 1958), 100–08, ill.
  • Daniel Baud-Bovy, Corot (Geneva: A. Jullien, 1957), 200
  • Stephen Carlton Clark, A Collector's Taste: A Benefit Exhibition of Paintings; Selections from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Clark for the Benefit of the Fresh Air Association of St. John, exh. cat. (New York: M. Knoedler & Co., 1954), no. 5
  • Pierre Courthion, Corot raconté par lui-même et par ses amis, Pensées et écrits du peintre (Geneva: P. Cailler, 1946), Vol 1&2, fig. plate 60, 145
  • Germain Bazin, Corot (Paris: Éditions Pierre Tisné, 1942), 119, no. 75, fig. 75
  • Walter Pach, Catalogue of European and American Paintings 1500–1900. Masterpieces of Art (New York: Art Aid Corporation, 1940), 175, 177, no. 253, fig. 253
  • Élie Faure, Corot (Paris: Éditions G. Crès, 1931), fig. 53
  • Marc Lafargue, Corot (Paris: F. Rieder & cie, 1925), 39, fig. Plate 25
  • Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Corot raconté par lui-même (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1924), 76–77, 82, Vol 1, fig. 118
  • Alfred Robaut and Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Histoire de Corot et de ses œuvres, 1 (Paris: H. Floury, 1905), 128–32, 137–38, 230–31, no. 69, Vol. 1&2
  • Maurice Hamel, Corot et son oeuvre (Paris: Goupil & Cie, 1905), 28
  • Léon Roger-Milès, Album classique des chefs d'oeuvre de Corot: comprenant 40 reproductions d'après les toiles les plus célèbres du maître: précédées d'un essai critique, E´d. du monument (Paris: Braun Clément, 1895)
  • Léon Roger-Milès, Corot (Paris: Librairie de l'art, 1891), 46, 83
  • Théophile Silvestre, Les artistes français: études d'après nature (Paris: G. Charpentier, 1878), 265
  • Henri Dumesnil, Corot: souvenirs intimes (Paris: Rapilly, 1875), 126, no. 58
  • Antonin Proust, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe sie`cle (Paris: Administration du Grand Dictionnaire Universel, 1873), 207–09
  • Paul Mantz, "Corot," Gazette des Beaux-Arts (November 1861), 429, 431
  • Loudolphe de Virmond and Théophile Silvestre, Histoire des artistes vivants français et étrangers; études d'après nature (Paris: E. Blanchard, 1856), 404
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

cityscapes (representations), marine (visual work)

Subject

boats harbors

Inscriptions

Signed lower right side "COROT"

Technical metadata and APIs

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